In the sacramental controversy—the most violent, distracting,
and unprofitable in the history of the Reformation—Calvin stood midway between Luther and
Zwingli, and endeavored to unite the elements of truth on both sides, in
his theory of a spiritual real presence and fruition of Christ
by faith.895895 See § 57, pp. 455
sqq. This satisfied neither the rigid Lutherans nor the rigid Zwinglians. The
former could see no material difference between Calvin and Zwingli, since
both denied the literal interpretation of 'this is my body,' and a
corporeal presence and manducation. The latter suspected Calvin of leaning
towards Lutheran consubstantiation and working into the hands of Bucer,
who had made himself obnoxious by his facile compromises and ill-concealed
concessions to the Lutheran view in the Wittenberg Concordia (1536).

The wound was reopened by Luther's fierce attack on the
Zwinglians (1545), and their sharp reply. Calvin was displeased with both parties, and counselled
moderation. It was very desirable to harmonize the teaching of the Swiss
Churches. Bullinger, who first advanced beyond the original Zwinglian ground,
and appreciated the deeper theology of Calvin, sent him his book on the Sacraments,
in manuscript (1546), with the request to express his opinion. Calvin, did
this with great frankness, and a degree of censure which at first 472irritated Bullinger.
Then followed a correspondence and personal conference
at Zurich, which resulted in a complete union of the Calvinistic and Zwinglian
sections of the Swiss Churches on this vexed subject. The negotiations reflect
great credit on both parties, and reveal an admirable spirit of frankness,
moderation, forbearance, and patience, which triumphed over all personal sensibilities
and irritations.896896 See the details in Ebrard,
Pestalozzi, and Stähelin, who speak in the highest terms of the truly Christian spirit which characterized
the two leaders of the Swiss Reformation.

The first draft of the Consensus Tigurinus, from November, 1548,
consists of twenty-four brief propositions drawn up by Calvin, with annotations by
Bullinger, to which Calvin responded in January, 1549. They assert that the
Sacraments are not in and of themselves effective and conferring grace, but
that God, through the Holy Spirit, acts through them as means; that the internal
effect appears only in the elect; that the good of the Sacraments consists
in leading us to Christ, and being instruments of the grace of God, which
is sincerely offered to all; that in baptism we receive the remission of
sins, although this proceeds primarily not from baptism, but from the blood
of Christ; that in the Lord's Supper we eat and drink the body and blood
of Christ, not, however, by means of a carnal presence of Christ's human
nature, which is in heaven, but by the power of the Holy Spirit and the devout elevation of our soul to
heaven.897897 Opera, Vol. VII. pp. 693 sqq.

In the month of March Calvin sent twenty Articles to the Synod
of Berne,898898 Ibid. pp. 717 sqq. but in this
canton there was strong opposition to Calvin's rigorism, which subsided only after
his death.899899 See Hundeshagen, and Stähelin,
Vol. II. pp. 125 sqq. Calvin complained on his deathbed of the ill-treatment he had repeatedly received
from the government of Berne.

In May, 1549, he had, in company with Farel, a personal
interview with Bullinger in Zurich at his cordial invitation, and drew up the Consensus
as it now stands, in Twenty-six Articles. It was published in 1551 at Zurich
and at Geneva.900900Opera, Vol. VII. pp. 733 sqq.
These Twenty-six Articles alone are given, with Calvin's Exposition of 1554, in Niemeyer's
Collectio, pp. 191–217. It contains the Calvinistic doctrine, adjusted as nearly
as possible to the Zwinglian in its advanced form, but with a disturbing predestinarian restriction
of the sacramental 473grace to the
elect.901901 Art. XVI.
'Præterea sedulo
docemus, Deum non promiscue vim suam exserere in omnibus qui sacramenta recipiunt: sed tantum in electis.
Nam quemadmodum non alios in fidem illuminat, quam quos præordinavit ad vitam, ita arcana Spiritus
sui virtute efficit, ut percipiant electi quod offerunt sacramenta.' Yet this is qualified
in Art. XVIII.
'Certum quidem est, offeri communiter
omnibus Christum cum suis donis, nec hominum
infidelitate labefactari Dei veritatem, quin semper vim suam retineant sacramenta: sed non omnes Christi
et donorum ejus sunt capaces. Itaque ex Dei parte nihil mutatur: quantum vero ad homines spectat, quisque
pro fidei suæ mensura accipit.' See the lengthy discussion of Ebrard, 1.c. pp. 503 sqq. He
fully adopts the doctrine of the Consensus with the exception of the predestinarian restriction, which,
however, is inseparable from the Calvinistic system, as formerly held by Ebrard himself. The
truth of the Zwinglian view
is fully acknowledged in opposition to transubstantiation and consubstantiation,
but the real life union with Christ in the sacrament is as clearly asserted,
and made still more plain in the 'Exposition' of the Consensus which Calvin
wrote four years afterwards (1554). 'The Sacraments,' he declares, 'are
helps and media (adminicula et media),
by which we are either inserted
into the body of Christ, or being so inserted coalesce with it more and more,
till he unites us with himself in full in the heavenly life. . . . The Sacraments
are neither empty figures, nor outward badges merely of piety, but seals
of the promises of God, attestations of spiritual grace for cherishing and
confirming faith, organs also by which God efficaciously works
in his elect.'902902 'Sacramenta
neque inanes esse figuras neque externa tantum pietatis insignia, sed promissionum Dei sigilla, testimonia
spiritualis gratiæ ad fidem fovendam et confirmandam, item organa esse quibus efficaciter agit Deus in
suis electis, ideoque, licet a rebus signatis distincta sint signa, non tamen disjungi ac
separari,' etc. Niemeyer, p. 204.

The Consensus was adopted by the Churches of Zurich, Geneva,
St. Gall, Schaffhausen, the Grisons, Neuchatel, and, after some hesitation, by Basle,
and was favorably received in France, England, and parts of Germany. Melanchthon
declared to Lavater (Bullinger's son-in-law) that he then for the first time
understood the Swiss, and would never again write against them; but he erased
those passages of the Consensus which made the efficacy of the sacrament
depend on election.

While the Consensus brought peace and harmony to the Swiss Churches,
it was violently assailed by Joachim Westphal, of Hamburg (1552), in the
interest of the ultra-Lutheran party in Germany, and became the innocent
occasion of the second sacramental war, which has been noticed in the section on the
Formula Concordiæ.903903 See pp. 279 sqq. A full
account of the controversy of Calvin with Westphal is given by Ebrard, Vol. II. pp. 525 sqq., and by Nevin
in the Mercersburg Review for 1850, pp. 486 sqq.